career criminal living out his last days of a wasted life in prison. i'm greta van susteran. good night. utorld, you will have to hear a lot about, this i'm afraid. laura: "the o'reilly factor" is on. tonight: >> i want an answer right now. [chanting] >> he has the right to be represented and i want to talk to you face to face. >> you need to get the government the hell out of our way! [cheers and applause] laura: as more and more americans rise up against socialized medicine at town halls across the country. democrats seem to be demonizing the country trinchts i think their carrying swastikas at town hall meeting on health care. >> [bleep], [bleep]. laura: plus, a conservative activist who was physically attacked at a st. louis gathering will be here. ♪ jet. laura: your tax dollars hard at

work. congress orders up a new fleet of private jets with a $500 million price tag. we'll have details. ♪ jet glen glen they're changing the name of acorn. bill: i heard they are changing it to the ymca. >> you went overboard. >> you don't have use for obama at all? >> no. laura: best movements of glenn beck and bill o'reilly. you don't want to miss this. bill: i do get royalty for you calling her a pinhead. >> my only -- who he image to homage to you. >> caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone the factor begins right now. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- laura: hi, everyone, i'm laura ingraham reporting tonight for bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us. the democrats versus the people. that's the subject of this evening's talking points memo. last night, top white house aides presented recessing

democrats with a battle plan to avoid the embarrassing pr disasters, otherwise known as health care town halls. according to politico, deputy white house chief of staff jim masena told democrats if you get hit, punch back twice as hard. well, word traveled fast. at a town hall last night with congressman rust cancer -- crarnahan was handing out don't beat on me flags. we will hand them out later in the show. when they could go no longer ignore the anti-obama voters, democrats began to dismiss them as hired insurance companies. paul krugman accused them of harboring racial anxiety. the fact is, crowds of this size only turn out across the country if there is real, genuine passion about an issue what's

driving in august activism is a lack of trust in what the democrats are promising on health care. voters hear don't worry, abortions aren't covered. illegal benefits don't benefit. care won't be rationed. private insurance won't be killed off. yet, informed americans respond with, we don't believe you. rather than facing the harsh truth, democrats have stooped to a new low. this is washington state congressman brian baird. >> if people set out to disrupt town hall meetings to intimidate people who sincerely want to discuss issues the first is democracy itself. some of the rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of the kind of things that drove tim mcveigh to bomb the oklahoma federal building. >> attacking voters who dare to speak out is back firing big

time. it simply widens the gulf of distrust and infuriates hard-working americans. democrats should now see the folly of this entire health care cram down. hey, so much for no drama obama and a new era of bipartisanship. i have an idea. instead of trying to pass a 1,000 page bill that will only add to the federal deficit. why not convince a blue state to do a test run of obama care for the rest of us. any takers? and that's the memo. now for the top story tonight. another look at how some americans are passionately voicing their dissent for obama's health care plan. [chanting] kill the bill. kill the bill. kill the bill you work for us. you work for us. you work for us. hear our voice. hear our voice. there plentying of.

government in our face. [cheers and applause] >> we don't support a single pair system. >> that's what obama wants. >> no that's not what obama wants. >> yes, it is. yes, it is. >> we watched it on tv over and over. >> i have a question for this young man. he has a right to be represented. i'm his father and i want to talk to you face to face. >> we put an amendment in which will address his specific problem. >> no. no, no. laura: wow. joining us now from washington, fox news analyst juan williams. juan, i usually think that august in politics is kind of a quiet time. this is getting more roberted up by the day. the more the democrats dismiss and now demonize these protesters. the more regular folks seem to be showing up at these forums. what gives? >> well, there is real discontent and concern. just look at the polls, laura,

the people are concerned about specific, the high level of spending. they think this is going to spend us, you know, out of all time. i mean, you can't even compare it to anything previous. so it will spend us right down into bankruptcy and into deficit spending. the kind that can only feed inflation or feed increases in your taxes, my taxes, everybody's taxes. there is real concern. let me just say that i think that contrary to what you said in the talking points memo. i think that a lot of these people, they are not paid. they are not fake. i think there is genuine reason for them to be out there. i think a lot of them are being stirred up by scare tactics. all this talk about rationing. why didn't teddy kennedy go to canada? all this talk about socialized medicine. people aren't stopping to think, wait a minute, most americans want the healthcare system to be improved. most people think they get taken to the bank by the insurance companies. laura: the new poll out which i'm going to get out later with

scott rasmussen shows us that 68% of americans describe their health coverage as excellent or good. so i beg to differ people are just so distraught on a daily basis about health care. what i think has happened here with the democrats is they absolutely were caught flat-footed by the level of discontent and distrust about big hulking government programs. they were caught flat-footed. they thought they were going to be able to ram this thing through before the vacation and lo and behold people started hearing things. maybe some things are exaggerated but a lot of the things are right from the bill itself, juan. >> you can't help yourself, laura. you are exactly right. some things are exaggerated. the 68% figure you cite was not before the republicans made this about the cost, the spending, and the idea that, you know what? it's not going to in fact cover everybody who is not insured at the moment. it's not going to drive down your personal cost. it's not going to contain health care costs for businesses being strapped by unpredictability of

health care costs. people started to say why are we spending this money? what are we getting for it? laura: why? congressional budget office is not some republican group of hacks. this is not going to do what president obama promised which is to bring down the cost of health care. it's not. >> what we need to do now and you are hearing from the white house change the topic. the white house is trying to change the topic and saying this is about consumer protections for people who already have insurance. what you are hearing now is it's not about cost, per se. it's about insurance protection. that's what they are telling the democrats out there at the town hall meeting. laura: what did you make of this brian baird and timothy mcvey. he made a reference to timothy mcveigh and in a phone interview he used the words brown shirts. nancy pelosi talked about swastikas. i think she is referring to one sign on a rally where a red line was through a swastika saying we don't want socialized, whatever. i think their response to the

critics, it's fueling the critics here. >> well, in some ways it is. but, remember, it's not about the people who are actually at the meetings. the people who go to the meetings, protesting, their strategy is to get media attention. this is really political fever. laura: they care, right? you are not saying they don't care. a lot of these people are over 65. when obama's group organizing for america and the sciu get their big groups in florida last night or in michigan, i mean, they are organizing people. so what if people on the internet show up at these town hall meetings? what's good for the goose is good for the gander. >> right. so both sides right now are taking it to the streets. that's what we are seeing this august. american politics taken to the street. laura: i love it. >> in ways we haven't seen in generations. it's all over health care. it's not over some war. it's very personal. everybody knows they are being touched by this insurance argument. laura: much for the apathy. people are engaged. left to right, whatever it is. juan have a great vacation. it's great to see you. next on the rundown, health care

dissent is taking a serious toll on the obama administration. we are going to tell you about some shocking poll numbers. and, later, fireworks at a st. louis town hall as one conservative activist ends

laura: with anger escalating

with obama care over the country. the president is trying to regain the upper hand. >> i don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. i want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. [cheers] i don't mind cleaning up after them but don't do a lot of talking. laura: nice. meanwhile, a brand new rasmussen poll shows that 41% of voters have a favorable opinion of town hall protesters. that's the plurality, and 49% believe the protesters are reflecting genuine concerns while 37% think they are phoney. joining us from washington republican pollster kelly an conway and from new jersey scott rasmussen, the head of rasmussen reports, scott, let's start with you, these new poll numbers on health care town hall protesters, what does it tell us. >> a huge partisan split. republicans think it's real and

they have a favorable opinion of the protesters, democrats have the opposite view. almost like everything else these days unaffiliated are leaning in the protester. they want to seat concerns given voice. laura: the interesting thing to me in all these numbers is the fact that ascot said independents seem to be breaking toward republicans on the issue of health care. even among democrats 55% of democrats said they had unfavorable view of the attendees of the town hall meetings. i'm actually surprised it's that low and i don't think that's a good sign, necessarily for the democrats. >> well, it's not a good sign when the new talking point from nancy pelosi and the democrats, laura, is that this is manufactured outrage as people being driven there. they are bunch of -- i think obama achieved what he wanted to achieve to be a post partisan try partisan president. he has majority of independents taking a better look at his agenda and rejecting it particularly on health care. the big change for this president in just the last three

to four weeks is how independents view him on health care. every time he opens up his mouth on an issue and speaks about it at length, his numbers dip on issue that. health care right now is being seen as a fiscal issue by most americans. his numbers are under 50% on health care. budget deficit, jobs, economy, and taxes are all seen as fiscal issue. this is a guy who ran on change you with k. believe in. is he governing on revolution we must pay for. laura: scott, in this is really quite something when we think about where politics was 10 months ago, 11 months ago, republicans down in the mouth, down and out, they thought it was over, they were going to be a permanent minority party. now, not so many months later, the numbers really seem to be reversed on a whole host of issues as kelly ann said. this president who had an enormously attractive personal narrative is still trying to sell that personal narrative but the numbers are down to 50% in quinnipiac survey.

you know, the narrative is not selling it. we have him at 450% as well. even more important people who have stlong opinions of this presidency are most likely to disapprove instead of approving. people are starting to give him creditor blame. they are very concerned about deficits. 71% believe his policies have added to the deficit whoas, they are concerned that he has not kept his promises for 95% of all americans. right now, the concern about health care, kelly ann is right, it's seen as fiscal issue. even more basically than that 68% of americans not only have health insurance coverage they have insurance they're happy with. they are entering this debate thinking they have more to lose than to gain. everything that comes up about a possible concern scares them. by two to one margin believes that no bad how bad it is congress could make it worse. they don't want to turn it over to that group.

laura: democrats thought they were going to sail. they had the numbers, the votes, the momentum. lo and behold came the talk radio, fox news, some really promising internet reporters and bloggers, and, guess what, representative democracy can actually work. the people can get informed and learn a little bit about legislation that apparently most of these people just don't even read. >> well, they can. even the most gifted salesman can't pedal snake oil that nobody wants and people feel like they don't need. frankly when people talk about health care reform. they're really talking about reform for other people. a vast majority of most registered voter likely voters have health insurance and ascot says about two thirds of them are happy with they're they are. you are not going to convince them that a trillion-dollar price tag is worth a decrease in quality and choices. i think the miscalculation for this white house, laura, has been to confuse personal appeal with political capital. this is a man who ran on likability. he certainly didn't run on experience. he ran on personal appeal. but, specifics are not his

friend. six, seven months into his presidency, people are looking at the facts and figures, looking at unbiased cbo reports. denounced by the mayo clinic for health plan. other people very concerned who don't have skin in the game. they are saying wait a second you ran on -- you were like the blind date i haven't met yet. now i have opened up the door and i don't like what i see. laura: scott, what is the tipping point here as far as numbers go? now 50% approve and fewer, obviously, disapprove of the president's handling of the overall issues. it goes below 50, then what? >> well, in the short-term, it's likely to go below 50. because the president's numbers will go down as the economy goes down and i think when the next round of deficit projections come out the president will have a tough period of time. what really will matter is where things are next year at this time. if the economy is struggling. if g.m. is asking for more bailout money, it's going to be a very tough year for democrats and the president. laura: fascinating. thanks a lot. when we come back, say goodbye

to the war on terror. team obama says we are no longer fighting against jihadists. glenn beck and bill o'reilly television magic. we have the best of real for you coming up. al

u. laura: news flash from the obama administration the war on terror is now over. >> the president does not describe this as a war on terrorism. that is because terrorism is but a tactic, a means to an end. describing our efforts as a global war only plays into the warped narrative that al qaeda prop gates. nor does president obama see this challenge as a fight against jihadist, instead, as the president has made clear, we are at war with al qaeda which attacked us on 9/11 and killed 3,000 people. laura: will this change in rhetoric and national security policy back fire? joining us now from washington, fox news strategic analyst lt. colonel ralph peters. colonel peters, so much to get to on this new rhetoric and the change in rhetoric and approach and style. but the bottom line is, is the change in rhetoric in any way making us safer? >> well, i think it makes the white house and the extreme left feel a lot better.

it's just nutty. you heard him say we are not at war with jihadist but we are at war with al qaeda, maybe, sort of, kind of. al qaeda are ijihadies. that's what they call themselves. they believe that the war on terror is over. somebody needs to tell the terrorists and convince them. how do you -- what about our soldiers? eastern and southern afghanistan right now fighting in fire fights going on as we speak. is the war on terror nonexistent for them? this is just about political correctness, i will tell you, he went on and talked about soft power. sell that in afghanistan. look, small dvd's of sex in the city are not going to persuade afghan villager that western culture is wonderful. this is a fight. when you fight -- when terrorists attack you, as they attacked us, the answer, to dealing with someone who believes they are on a mission from god, and who believes that deficit promotion is to kill them. laura: ralph, what is he getting at here?

why the aversion to the word jihad? his actions are actually oftentimes pretty tough. i mean, we took out the taliban commander it looks like in pakistan today. the leader of the taliban. leader of al qaeda, pakistan, taliban commander. he is gone. we use these unmanned drones and hit and attack. so the rhetoric is changing. are the tactics necessarily changing? >> well, i think we have gotten much better in -- at targeting people in northwestern pakistan, parts of afghanistan. for two straightforward reasons, we have been at war a long time. our military has gotten very, very good. two, the pakistanis got really scared, really scared when the taliban came within 60 miles of the capital. now the pakistanis, for the first time, are giving us real intelligence and helping us kill the taliban they don't want around. but obama, he is letting our military do most of what it needs to do in afghanistan because he wants the problem to go away. he made a campaign promise he

was going to win. the problem, laura, is our military is doing a great job. we don't have a strategy. lawyer lure is in charge of our strategy in afghanistan? one person, who is it? >> really, there is no one person in charge. ultimately the president. stanley mccrystal, great soldier tasked with what may be an impossible mission has been conducting a review. trying say-to-say what's working what is it? what do we do next? it was supposed to be released now. it's on hold because there is a great dewait in the administration between those people in our military who say whoa, this isn't working. we have got to focus narrowly on our enemies, not on building a nation where there is no nation to build. you have got the administration that believes in soft power and nation building and turning afghanistan into iowa with mountains. laura: in fact, admirable mullen this week, interview with the "washington times" and there was a big article in the "washington times" about it said that he was very disturbed about the culture of poverty in average.

difficult on the ground because of the circumstances on the ground. the brits criticizing our afghanistan policy which was kind of embarrassing. that was this week it seems having this debate on health care at home. i keep reading stories about how this marine or that soldier was killed in afghanistan and i hope we don't forget what's happening there. >> yeah. indeed. i think admiral mullen is trying very hard to move things forward. he is another very, very good man. we went to afghanistan to hammer al qaeda and punch the -- punish the taliban for hosting them. it turns into this crazy mission of turning afghanistan into modern rule of law deagain denigrated democracy. millions of advisors, many who spoke the local languages, they spent constant dollars more than we have on development. the soviets built hundreds of factories, clinics, schools.

laura: how did that work out. >> there is nothing left. we can do a lot. we have the power to persuade afghans to nod their heads forever. we don't have the power to make afghans stop being afghans. they don't want what we want. laura: ralph, in 30 seconds, i know it's not enough time, north korea pyongyang got coo this week. former president shows up and apologizes for the bad behavior of these journalists. one of of my brothers live in core rea people realize what a huge deal this is for kim jong il? how embarrassing was this for the united states of america. >> it was very embarrassing it sent the message if you have got american hostage as prisoners, you are instantly a friend of bill. laura, the really big event that wasn't hugo chavez shut down fox news and made a crime to criticize chavez. pelosi can only dream. laura: colonel, thank you. we appreciate it plenty more ahead as factor moves along this

evening. spendowe ramah moves on so they orders up a new jet. this man protesting against health care reform in st. louis end up in the er?

laura: our high flying lawmakers in congress have ordered up a fleet of fancy private jets to shuttle them around. with a 500-million-dollar price

tag for taxpayers. but you may remember the scolding that the autos ceos got when they flew in style to testify on capitol hill. >> i mean, couldn't all have downgraded to first class or jet pooled or something to get here? it would have at least sent a message that you do get it. if you are going to stream line your companies, where does it start? >> hypocrisy alert. joining from us washington is paul singer, an investigative reporter at "roll call." now, paul, there is so much going on this august. august is supposed to be a slow month but this story just made me howl because i remember, i think it was congressman brad sherman was asking the ceos at a hearing on capitol hill. raise your hand if you flew commercial to washington today and no one raised their hand. raise your hand if you are going to sell your jet and fly back commercial. no one raised their hand. like a moment of great glory for the democrats now it's

500-million-dollar price tag for us for these new jets. what gives? >> well, the fact of the matter is is that the military has a fleet of about 300 aircraft that are largely private transport. they are for executives and for members of congress. they are for top military brass. and they are replacing that fleet. they, in this particular case, the story we wrote this week they asked for one new gulf stream jet which is those cute little corporate jets. laura: they are not so little, paul. >> they seat about a dozen. they seat about 12 people and cost about $65 million a apiece. the house appropriations committee gave them three. and said specifically that two of those would be stationed at andrews air force base. the likelihood being that more members of congress would be flying on those than if they were stationed some place in nebraska. laura: the military apparently said, jeff murrow the defense

defense military spokesman said the military didn't ask for this number of planes and doesn't think this number of planes is warranted. the senate, clair mccaskill today have been getting blow back from the constituents on this. she is vowing to block any expenditure to pay for these jets. it's the house versus the democrats versus the pentagon and meanwhile the regular people flying southwest like i am this weekend are saying well, i guess we are just going to stay where we are. >> keep in mind that, you know, making the point, the appropriations committee says these are not just for congressional travel. they will tell you that out of that fleet of 300 planes only about 14% of the travel is congressional. i don't dispute. it's also true as i said these two gulf streams particularly would be stationed at andrews. maybe a higher percentage of done congressional travel on those. this is pretty much a bipartisanship thing. this bill with these planes in it went through the house on a 400 something to 30 vote.

so, i'm just not entirely sure anybody really noticed. a couple people decided to -- >> -- remember what happened with denny hastert though? hastert's plane made available to him was much smaller aircraft. i guess it was like a year ago a year and a half ago. nancy pelosi kicked up a lot of dust about the fact that she wanted a larger plane at her disposal. like a 737. that can carry, i guess, 42 in her entourage and staffs and i guess anyone she picks up off the street. i don't know who is in this plane. got a lot of people flying to san francisco every thursday or friday. >> the speaker is required to fly on a military plane. can i tell you that i have seen a bunch of records that has nancy pelosi actually in both the gulf stream and something similar to it. i'm currently trying to track back through all those records and figure out exactly how many members have been travelling on these airplanes. it is not yet clear to me exactly how these planes are being used.

laura: paul, you know what is clear? and what's clear is that you had top democrats on capitol hill wagging their fingers at ceos from the auto company who came from detroit to washington. ok, on their corporate jets that they use. they were sanctimonious and trying to make this great point about sacrifice and the need to tighten our belts. this just looks terrible. i mean, forget about -- well, some republicans voted for it, i'm sure they did. but this looks terrible when we are talking about the need for all of to us sacrifice, does it not? >> well, and what we wrote, i mean, we found this story interesting because of the debate about private travel. and i don't really have an opinion one way or another about whether these are justified airplanes. i mean, part of the issue, of course, for members of congress and other senior executives, i mean, obviously, you don't want the president of the united states standing -- laura: we are not talking about the president of the united states. we are talking about joe schmo

the congressman you wouldn't recognize on the street. >> the question is where do you drawn draw the line? laura: how about draw the line at the g-3 not the gulf stream 350. directly ahead glenn beck and bill o'reilly together again at your beck and call event. >> ok. so you were eating pudding because it was comforting to you you? >> this is like, are you kidding me? that's like conservative porn. what's new from ziploc? you know all the little things you do to help the environment? here's one more... ziploc evolve. ♪ an ultra-light bag designed to keep food fresh... made with 25% less plastic. and made with wind energy. ♪

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laura: thanks for staying with us. i'm laura ingraham reporting for bill o'reilly. in the at your beck and call segment tonight, some of our favorite moments of the dynamic television duo of o'reilly and beck. roll the tape. bill: i'm getting the feeling from the beck operation. >> oh, boy. the beck operation. bill: the beck operation. that you don't have any use for obama at all. >> no. bill: you don't have any use for the man. >> no. i respect the office. i respect the office -- bill: did you have any use for president bush? >> not towards the end, not so much. bill: so you didn't have toward the end for bush. >> my turning point on the government really was the border issue. you can't make the case to me that you care about our security and then you leave the border open.

bill: the border was big for us. >> that was the genesis for me saying nothing makes sense here. there is no common sense in any of. this i'm really fascinated on your take by barack obama. >> ok. >> do you feel that he is incompetent. >> no, no. i think he is brilliant. i think he -- i think the way he sees america is kind of like if he were talking to me i'm not trying to destroy your marriage i just see your wife with me. he is not trying to destroy the country he has a radically different view. bill: you think i is a really strong left wing idealogue. >> yes. bill: he wants to impose what? what is the end game? >> i'm not sure what the end game is. bill: you are not sure. >> i would say it's european style socialism. bill: he thinks france is the optimum? >> i don't know. bill, here is where i am left. i'm left with barack obama nothing makes sense. you know and i know we can't continue to monday advertise our

debt. >> you don't e logic. >> you right. >> where is your logic? what would you do? i'm asking you, what would you do to change this healthcare system for the better? after all, every time you people bring up costs, you don't care about the trillions of dollars to bail out the banks and all the credit card companies. >> cathy, get off my phone! get off my phone you little pinhead! bill: you went a little overboard. >> i think there is only so much you can take before blood shoots out of your eyes. every time "you people" don't care about the cost. this woman has never listened to me before. bill: she sounded like a fan. she sounded like she loved you. >> you don't care about the cost. you don't care about the big bailouts. that's all i have been talking about since october. bill: do i get a royalty for you calling her a pinhead? >> i thought about it, i thought about it. no. bill: harry alford head of the black chamber of commerce. >> he is great. bill: last night on the factor. you have dealt with this in a

circular way in your program with the barbara boxer thing. roll the tape on that. >> i think we start with desert, something yummy. ok? the head of the national black chamber of commerce. he was -- he got reamed out by senator barbara boxer and then he reasoned her out and it was fantastic. it's like pudding, watch. >> i don't like it. >> excuse me, sir. >> i take offense to it. >> ok. >> as an african-american, and a veteran of this country, i take offense to that. bill: ok. so you were eating pudding because it was comforting to you? >> oh, this is like -- are you kidding me? that's like conservative porn. that's barbara boxer. i mean, i want to put some barry white on and listen and go oh, yeah, barbara. bill: you had to have a comfort food in order to enjoy the moment. >> i had a celebration. i haven't seen that happen before. you have seen that happen?

no. >> that was fantastic. bill: mr. alford, and we invited senator boxer on the program. >> i know. i invited him on the program he didn't return my call. bill: he doesn't like you. do you know why he? doesn't like pudding, that's why he didn't come on. >> is it because i look too much like the pills bury doe boy -- dough boy? bill: you want them investigated. >> i brought some stuff. this is the acorn house. this is the little funeral home. bill: in new orleans. >> this is the acorn house. all the acorn people are here in house. ok? bill: they all live together? >> well, it's twisted. but, this is dale rathke. he is the founder, and this is his brother. don't ask a lot of questions. bill: not literally. >> don't ask a lot of questions. they are all in the house. bill: they are all in the acorn house. >> everybody wants to investigate acorn. this is what i said about two or three months ago, stop

concentrating here. bill: at the house. >> at the house. bill: don't concentrate at the house. >> because this guy. bill: dale rathke. >> and his brother, wayne. they are getting into the -- they are getting into their sports car and they are driving away, meanwhile, our government, which says oh, we are working on all of, this our government is standing over here when the real villains are driving away. bill: are where are they going. >> they are changing the name of acorn. bill: right, we know that. >> they're going international. bill: i heard they are changing it to the ymca is that wrong ♪ fun to stay at the ymca. bill: where are they driving? >> 270 organizations that you and i have discussed before that are run by these people, including unions, et cetera, et cetera. and it's international. while we have to shut the house down, we have to understand that when we do investigations over here, we must look for the people who are driving away. bill: if the fbi gets involved. they will be able to track dale and his brother down

particularly looking like that. they will be able to find them. >> dale is pretty hard to miss. actual size, too. bill: the beck factor. laura: in a moment, violence erupts outside a town hall meeting in st. louis and one conservative attendee was roughed up and claims his attacker used a racial slur. he will be here when we come back. geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years. and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

laura: as we told you, some of the town hall forums on health care are getting pretty rowdy. one confrontation outside a st. louis gathering got especially heated and activist kenneth gladdie said he was physically assaulted and racially insulted. [shouting]

[beep],. >> who attacked you? you are going to jail. laura: six people were arrested. two on suspicion of assault he joins us now from st. louis along with his attorney david brown who witnessed the altercation. david, what happened here? i mean, let's go to kenneth first. i read all the stories. i read the st. louis post dispatch. listened to 97.1 fm talk today. what happened? >> well, first, i was there to sell, you know, flags and buttons and stuff that said don't thread on me. i was setting out there. and i guess something got -- just went through my head i said i'm just going to give them away and stuff like that. so a pastor's wife walked up to me and she just took a liking to

some of the buttons, so i started showing her some of the buttons and everything. this guy walked up and he said who in the -- who in the blank is selling or giving away this stuff here? i said, sir, this is my merchandise. and would you like a flag or a button or something like that? and he said "what kind of n. are you to be giving this stuff out out." laura: sorry to interrupt. kenneth did, this man happen to be african-american? >> yes, he was. laura: he was? >> yes, he was. laura: he was a remember of the sciu, you thought. one report i saw he was wearing some type of shirt or something that said cciu on it. >> yes. he is one of the union members. laura: david, i want to go to you. this is scary stuff. as far as i can tell, the union

thugs, you know, roughed up your client. >> well, it's been going on for 100 years in america. i guess it's nothing new, laura what's the status now? kenneth, how are you feeling? i understand you were in the er overnight and overnight in the hospital. >> i'm still in pain. and, you know, i have headaches and stuff like that. my shoulder was bruised and my knee was bruised and stuff like that. laura: this involved two men, kenneth came at you? >> actually, it involved four people. laura: did they all hit you. >> yes. laura: so they surrounded you? >> yeah, they surrounded me. actually, after the first two guys got me on the ground, they sur rowfnedded me and started kicking me in the head and in the back. and the knees and stuff like that. and after it was done, i got up, kind of dazed. looking for my glasses.

and the one guy actually was coming at me again. and that's when the police came in and, you know, cordoned off everything and started, you know, started arresting people. laura: david, we are almost out of time but you witnessed this entire thing, didn't you? >> yes, i did. it was a frightening sight to see a friend of yours in such a situation where he was doing nothing wrong. he was exercising his freedom of speech. to see the hatred there was horrible. laura: we appreciate it sorry to interrupt. investigation by police continues. still to come, some say barack obama's campaign machine was one of the most effective in history. a new book reveals significant weaknesses that could doom the presidentt

laura: in the back of the book segment the drama that unfolded on the campaign trail was one for the history books but what gave barack obama the edge over john mccain and sarah palin last november? is there anything to stop this clear path to re-election in 2012? bill recently spoke with the authors of the book "the battle for america 2008." the story of an extraordinary election. bill: mccain was not successful. what was the main thing that held the senator back? >> he was seen by republicans as not really one of theirs. not one of the base at all. a maverick. bill: but most republicans voted for him. they didn't like obama.

did some people stay home? >> whether they stayed home or not there wasn't the passion for mccain to start with. bill: was there another drawback? >> the biggest single problem he had was the unpopularity of president bush. almost impossible to run and win the presidency if the sitting incumbent of your own party is a -- at a approval rating below 30% which was where president bush was. bill: even though he -- if he ran a stellar campaign he probably would have lost? >> very difficult under those conditions. bill: hillary clinton was the favorite in the beginning but barack obama overtook her. what was the main reason why? >> well, obama had something going for him that she did not. he understood where the country was about the war and about change. >> hello, iowa! >> and she never really caught up on that. >> i think there was a personal factor as well. there was a question about did people trust hillary clinton? she never answered that question. bill: but how do you make somebody trust you when you

have a resume like hillary clinton had? >> every candidate has a problem. the story of this election in a way is three candidates with their specific attributes but each with a potentially fatal political disease if you will. only barack obama overcame his disease. >> a smart candidate -- bill: what was barack obama's disease? >> the first was the question of inexperience and strength. the second was biography. this question of was he too exotic? was his background something that people could feel comfortable with? in both cases he used the campaign to convince people -- >> all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. bill: did he do it all on rhetoric? >> i don't think so. if you look back at the early speeches, he understood where the country was at that time. bill: when sarah palin gave that knockout speech at the republican convention -- >> the difference between a hockey mom and a pit ball, lipstick. bill: it was even. it was even in the polls.

but then slowly and then quicker, palin started to hurt the ticket? do you believe that? >> i think that's definitely the case. she did hurt the ticket. their hope was in addition to energizerring the republican base, which she did enormously well, that she could help mccain reach beyond that to the female voters who might have supported hillary clinton who were disaffected. in the end she proved not capable of doing that and she became a drag on the ticket. she did not convince people she was up to the job. >> and knowledge about the issues. those interviews she had with -- bill: those interviews with couric and charlie gibson really hurt her. >> i think the gibson interview did not hurt her that much. bill: barack obama, the toughest interview that he did in the campaign. hurt him or help him? >> actually, i don't think it hurt him. i think it probably helped him. because he stood up to you and you were hitting him very hard. bill: why are you against

nuclear energy, france and sweden do it? >> i'm not -- bill: let's get the plants up. >> it didn't hurt him. he checked the box. did the situation with you and away he went. bill: why then was he not subjected to more tough interviews? >> it's interesting. because i think he was a fresh face. there was hunger in the country, too. don't forget. bill: so you think the press gave minimum -- >> i think he had the most positive press in my lifetime. >> ice cream for all the press. >> there's something the way a candidate fits the times that affects the press coverage. bill: the book is "battle for america." anybody caring about the election, the inner workings, we'll like it and we appreciate you coming on. >> thanks for having us. laura: the factor continues 24-7 on bill o'reilly and you can get "the american patriot" hat and check out my radio show and website,